Are You Good with Kids?
by fearlessgoddess2
Summary: Sequel to the tag story for Sam, Interrupted. Sam and Dean call in a favor from Erica Cartwright.


**Are You Good With Kids?**

Prologue:

Doctor Erica Cartwright dialed the number that her former patient gave to her, waiting as it rang.

"_Singer Salvage,_" came the gruff answer after five or six rings.

Erica was caught off-guard and suddenly wondered if she'd dialed the wrong number. "Ah…hi. M-My name's Erica. Erica Cartwright. I'm looking for Bobby?"

"_Yeah, that's me. How can I help you?_" he asked.

Erica blinked. "Um…I was hoping I could help you. Martin Creaser gave me your number. Sam and Dean probably saved a lot of lives in my hospital yesterday and if they ever need help, or if any other hunters ever need any help, I'd be willing to…help."

Bobby was silent for a long moment before she heard him rustling about, walking around, going through papers. "_Alright_," he muttered absently. "_What can you do?_"

"I-I'm sorry?"

"_How can you help?_"

Erica narrowed her eyes. "I don't know. I just…I'm a doctor, so—."

"_But you run a psych ward, right?_" Bobby asked. "_That won't help much if the boys are gushing blood from an run in with some teeth._"

Erica swallowed tightly, abruptly forced to consider that maybe she was out of her league. "I started in med school and was a medic for a few years before I switched to mental health, actually," she managed.

Bobby grunted. "_Well that works. You know anything about weapons?_"

"Weapons?" she echoed.

"_Can I send hunters to you if they might have something on their tail?_" he clarified.

"Something…like what?" she asked, her voice subdued.

Bobby hesitated for a long moment heavily, as if considering something. "_Miss…I'm sorry, but…why did Martin give you my number?_"

Erica realized that he was starting to think she didn't have what it took to back up Sam and Dean if they actually needed help one day. And maybe she didn't. Maybe she hadn't completely absorbed the fact that a wraith had infiltrated her hospital and killed a handful of patients. But that was the point, wasn't it? Erica thought of it as _her _hospital. _Her _patients. And these two boys saved them, and if she could do anything to help, she would. That's why she was calling, and she took a moment to gather herself and convince herself of that again before explaining it to Bobby.

He sighed quietly and paused. "_Yeah, alright. It's always good to have another name. I'll, ah…keep you in mind. Can I get your number and address?_"

Chapter 1:

Erica rolled over in bed as her phone rang, blinking a few times and trying to wake herself up. She picked up her cell, glancing at the unfamiliar number on the caller ID before answering. "Hello?" she murmured.

"_Dr. Cartwright. This is Dean. Sam and I need a place to crash. You up to playing hostess?_"

Erica's mind spun for a moment before it locked on facts that made the statement she'd just heard make sense and her eyes widened, memories of the two young men that had crashed through her life over a year ago suddenly flooding back. She quickly turned on the light on her bedside table. "Of course. Ah—how long until you get here?" she asked, ignoring the quiet sigh of relief she heard from him.

"_Like an hour. We've got a couple extra people with us. How many couches do you have?_"

Erica blinked again, considering the question before answering. "Ah…one in the living room, one in the den. But I've got a guest room with a double and a blow-up mattress in the closet."

"_Awesome. That's great. Uh, could you get that set up?_" he asked, his tone tired but actually matching the words he was saying a bit.

"Yeah," she answered, getting out of bed and grabbing her sweats and a T-shirt out of her dresser. "Anything else?"

"_Some towels you don't mind getting bloody would be good. Hey, and are you good with kids?_"

Erica stared straight ahead, stunned at that combination of statements. "Ah…sure. Yeah, I guess."

"_Alright. Good to know. See you soon._"

"Okay," she answered, though he'd already hung up.

Erica got dressed, turning on lights as she went through her house. She got some towels from the closet, briefly debating which to take before figuring towels in general were cheap and she could always replace them. She put the pile in the guest bedroom and, thinking back to Bobby's comment about gushing blood and teeth, got some garbage bags, and her first aid kit, which honestly was pretty puny, putting them in the bedroom as well. She then went through the house, doing the normal organization/clean she would do if any company were to come over.

About half an hour later, Erica found herself standing in her kitchen, unsure of what to do next. After absently pacing a bit, she decided to clean more. She went through the bathroom, bedrooms, and then extended to the rest of the house, Lysol wipes in hand, and realized she'd managed to kill enough time when she heard three loud knocks on her front door.

Erica quickly went down the hall and opened the door, revealing Sam and Dean. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw that Dean was keeping a teenage girl on her feet, since she looked a little woozy, and Sam had what appeared to be her younger sister in his arms, looking about the same. All of them looked worse for the wear, the girls especially.

"Jesus," she breathed, moving aside. "Guest room's down the hall on the left."

"Awesome," Dean grunted, walking inside, helping the teenager limp along. Sam followed right behind him and Erica closed and locked the door. She followed them down the hall to the guest room where Dean lowered the first girl onto the air mattress and Sam lay the second down on the bed.

Erica saw that both girls had rope burns on their wrists and met Dean's eyes when he caught her staring at them.

"Wendigo," he spoke quietly. "Girls were camping with their parents and it attacked their camp site. Grabbed them all, killed the parents. Was saving the girls for later."

"Wendigo," she echoed, looking to Dean, wide-eyed.

"About seven feet tall, gangly, eats human flesh, claws for fingers. Wendigo," he answered. "Which is why we need the towels," Dean added, motioning to Sam as he sat down on the bed with a tired breath. Dean left, heading toward the front door as Erica sucked in a sharp breath when Sam grimaced, taking his jacket off and revealing that towels had been put against his side and immobilized with medical tape.

Sam checked the towels for just a moment before looking back to the girls and wincing. "Can we, ah—."

"My bedroom," she told him instantly with a nod.

Sam nodded in return as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Alright. Ah, we had some granola bars and water in the car so the girls aren't starving, but if you want to get them some more water and maybe…." He let out a breath. "We were hoping you could talk to the girls because…Amy is lucid, she was taking care of her little sister, talking to her," he murmured tightly, motioning to the teenager, who somehow managed a tight grimace, meeting Sam's gaze off-center, "but Nina…." He sighed again. "She isn't talking. I think she's in shock."

"You're a shrink, right?" Amy asked suddenly, her voice raspy and quiet, drawing Erica's eyes.

Erica nodded slowly, feeling herself slipping into doctor mode. "Yeah, I am," she murmured.

"Can you help my sister?" she whispered.

"I'll try," Erica answered softly. "I'll get some juice and Entenmanns cookies. Be right back. Sam, my bedroom's right across the hall."

Sam nodded gratefully before grabbing the towels and the box of garbage bags and heading to the bedroom.

Erica smiled tightly at Dean as she passed him in the hall, a first aid kit in his hands that looked much more capable of handling serious wounds than her tiny one, and she told him that his brother had gone across the hall. She went into the kitchen, getting the supplies she'd gone in for, and heading back to the guest room.

Erica saw that Amy was staring at Nina, who was sitting up, leaning against the headboard, staring straight ahead and blinking occasionally. Erica set out some food on the bedside table, within arms reach of each girl, and sat down on Nina's bed.

"Nina," she murmured, paying close attention to any reaction from the girl. "Nina, my name's Erica. I'm a doctor and I'm a little worried about you." Erica received a very brief glance in her direction from Nina at that. "Can I do a few small tests to see how you're doing?" Nina didn't reply. "Can you follow my finger with your eyes?" Erica asked before slowly raising her hand, pointer finger extended, and gradually moving it back and forth in front of Nina's face. Nina's eyes trailed after the finger as it moved. "Good," Erica said with a small smile. She carefully lowered her hand and slid it into Nina's, which was sitting at her side, murmuring, "Can you squeeze my hand?"

Nina startled slightly at the contact but did as she was told.

Erica smiled a bit wider at that. "That's good," she said softly, squeezing back a bit. "Now…I'm going to ask Amy what happened and you just let me know if you don't like what we're saying, okay?" She didn't wait for confirmation, knowing she wasn't going to get any, but didn't remove her hand from Nina's. Erica met Amy's uneasy eyes, her gaze soft and gentle. "Amy. Can you tell me what happened?" she murmured. "You don't have to go into the details, just…get it out. Lay at all on me."

Amy swallowed hard and shifted on her mattress, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Um…we were in our tent," she whispered. "Mom and dad were in the other one. It was like…a sleepover. And me and Nina were talking and I heard a noise…." She swallowed again. "Like a…growl. And I heard mom and dad scream…." She closed her eyes, a shudder rippling through her, and then reopened them.

Erica's teeth were gnashed together tightly and she tried to remain the comforting doctor. It seemed way to much to be real, but here these two girls were, traumatized by a monster that had killed half their family, and that meant she had to help. She had to _try_. So she kept herself calm and just nodded for Amy to continue.

"Something…tore its way into the tent. Me and Nina were…screaming. I was trying to-to put myself…in front of her," Amy murmured shakily. "To protect her. But it just…grabbed both of us and…ran," she said, narrowing her eyes as if it confused her. "It was so…fast. And it…it strung us up…in the cave," she whispered, unconsciously rubbing at her wrists. "Mom and dad were there too…but dad wasn't moving…and then it started…it started to _eat _him—."

"Stop," Nina suddenly sobbed, darting her eyes to Amy, tears forming on her eyelids.

Amy shoved herself to her feet and over to Nina, taking her in her arms, as Erica moved back to give them room. "It's okay, sweetie," she breathed. "You're okay."

"But they're dead," Nina sobbed, leaning into her sister's shoulder. "They're gone and it was so _horrible _and they're _gone…._" She dissolved into tears, sobs wracking her body as tears ran down Amy's face also and she held Nina tightly, for herself as well as for her sister.

A vice had painfully clamped itself over Erica's heart and a lump had situated itself in her throat. She had never felt so helpless as a psychologist. This was something that was beyond her, a horror that she couldn't even comprehend. Not only had their parents been murdered in front of them, but their innocence of the terrifying creatures that even she had been completely petrified of had been revealed to them. She suddenly had a much greater respect for the two young men that were in the next room.

Amy glanced to Erica and gave her a shaky, grateful smile for getting through the wall Nina had put up around herself, moving her eyes slightly toward the door, asking for some privacy. Erica nodded stiffly, slowly getting up and leaving the room, leaving the door open just an inch. She went across the hall, hesitating before knocking. "Yeah?" came the muffled answer, prompting her to slowly open the door.

Dean didn't look up from the stitches he was sewing into Sam's side. Sam's teeth were clenched against the pain of the surgery and his eyes remained closed, his fists clutching the bed sheets tightly. "Something wrong?" Dean asked quietly.

"Ah, no," Erica muttered, looking behind her toward the girls before coming into the room, shutting the door. "Nina's talking. Amy's comforting her."

"Color me impressed, doc," Dean murmured, sparing a glance to her.

Erica hesitated before taking a seat at her desk, waiting as Dean continued with the stitches. "Something tells me you aren't used to hospitals."

"Not used to small talk while I'm sewing stitches into my brothers side, either," Dean told her, his gaze gentle but firm as he locked eyes with her momentarily. She averted her eyes, falling silent, and waited until Dean was finished and taped a large patch of gauze over the wound. He held the back of his hand to Sam's head and then checked his pulse, and Erica saw something unusually tender flash in Dean's eyes as he looked over his brother's exhausted body, but it was gone in an instant.

After replacing the bloody garbage bag under Sam with a clean one, Dean took the water bottle that was sitting to his right on the bedside table, sticking a straw in it to help Sam drink. Then he put it aside, letting out a sigh. "Okay, Sammy," he muttered. "I got this. Get some rest."

Sam took this as a signal to relax and Erica saw him let out a long breath and close his eyes again, leaning his head to the side. Dean shoved the used first aid supplies into another garbage bag, tying it off and double-bagging it. "There somewhere I can toss this?" Dean asked.

Erica nodded and motioned for him to follow her. They headed out to the garage and Dean tossed the bag in the garbage can. "So. How does this work?"

Dean glanced at her, confused. "How does what work?"

"What happens to the girls now?" Erica asked quietly.

Dean's expression slackened a bit as he made his way back inside the house. "They'll probably stay with relatives. When we drop them at the station they'll tell the police two guys got them out of the path of the grizzly but one of them caught some claws in the side and they had to head to the hospital. As soon as the cops find the remains of the parents' bodies they'll wrap up the case as a bear attack. And the girls'll move on with their lives."

"And you guys will move on to the next case?" Erica asked, her voice subdued.

Dean nodded once. "Yup."

"Cause you can't find anyone else that dumb."

Dean cocked an eyebrow at her before snorting, coming to a stop outside the kitchen. "Are these just questions or are you shrinking me?"

Erica pursed her lips, pausing. "Maybe a little of both. I'm assuming you still drink too much and get about four hours of sleep a night."

"No worries. We catch up on sleep when we've got severe blood loss," Dean said with a wry smile, nodding in Sam's direction. "He'll sleep for a good ten hours now."

"It's not healthy," Erica murmured.

Dean sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and leaning against the wall. "Doc, no offense, but this life ain't about the long-term. We're healthy enough to hunt, we're good. I'm not exactly counting calories."

"Because you don't think you'll live long enough for it to become a concern."

Dean snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Now you're getting it."

Erica stared at him evenly. "That's…sad. And more noble a sacrifice than I've ever seen."

Dean shifted uncomfortably on his feet, turning it into a shrug. "You call it noble. I just call it my life."

"Thank you, by the way. For what you did for the patients at my hospital."

"You're welcome," Dean muttered. He sighed, running a hand over his face, and straightened his spine. "I want to check on the girls."

Erica nodded, following him down the hall, and he pushed the door open. Amy was lying on the bed against the pillow and Nina was sleeping against her sister's chest, curled up in her arms. Amy looked up as they entered, her eyes red from crying.

"You guys good?" Dean asked quietly.

Amy nodded just slightly. "Yeah."

"Let the doc know if you need anything, alright? Get some sleep if you can. I'll be across the hall with my brother. We'll head to the police station in the afternoon," Dean told her. Amy nodded again, happy to let him keep the reins on planning ahead and to just lie there with her sister in her arms. Dean left the girls alone, closing the door almost all the way.

"Anything else I can do?" Erica asked.

Dean sighed. "Ah…." He hesitated, glancing back to the guest room. "Just…if you could check in on them while I'm out…."

"No problem," Erica said softly.

Dean nodded before turning and ducking into her bedroom. Erica let out a long breath, combing her fingers through her hair, and went to the kitchen in search of some sort of alcoholic beverage.

00000

"You made pancakes?" asked a stunned voice behind her slowly, causing Erica to startled. Sam winced slightly. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh that's alright. I just didn't hear you come in," she answered, turning back to the pan in front of her, flipping over the pancake. "Chocolate chip, mostly. Not all of them, since I wasn't sure if anyone was allergic. But I figure they're just the thing after a night like that."

Sam let out a long breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'd say."

"How're you feeling?"

"Not bad, considering. Got plenty of sleep, anyway." Sam headed over to the coffee pot, taking a cup from the cabinet she motioned toward, pouring a cup for himself and one for Dean.

"I wanted to ask you something," Erica asked quietly. Sam glanced over to her, raising his eyebrows. "Something stuck with me when I spoke to Bobby all that time ago. He said…he'd take my number because he could use all the help he could get…especially these days. I'm not sure what he meant and…I don't even know why, but…it scared me a little."

Sam's face took on an odd expression, one Erica had never seen on him, and he turned back toward the coffee, taking the milk where it was sitting on the counter and pouring some into his mug. "Just…things got a lot worse, really fast," he murmured. "But…it worked out. Pretty much."

Erica blinked at him. "I'm not even sure that constitutes an answer."

Sam cocked an eyebrow at her with a shadow of a smile. "To be fair, you didn't ask a question."

Erica let out a long breath, realizing he was right. "You…really don't want to tell me, huh?"

"I really don't," Sam murmured.

Erica paused for a long moment before turning back to the stove. "Well, to be honest, it helps me sleep at night knowing you two are out there doing this stuff. Helping people like you do. It's a bigger burden than I can ever imagine carrying and surviving intact, though."

Sam hesitated for a long moment before taking two sugars and putting them in his mug, stirring it with a spoon. He glanced at her, his expression suddenly very tired, but a smile embedded somewhere in it. "You helped take some of it off of our shoulders. Thanks for that." At that, he left the kitchen, leaving Erica to let out a long sigh, flipping the pancake over onto the plate to her left. And a small smile played at the edge of her lips.

**THE END**


End file.
